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Fixer
"Fixer" is the third episode of the first season, and the third episode in the series overall. It was written by Benjamin Cavell and directed by Fred Keller. It first aired on March 30, 2010. Raylan is assigned to handle Arnold Pinter, a confidential informant and a fixer for out-of-town news crews. Pinter assists in the recapture of a federal fugitive, but when Raylan goes to give him his reward money, he finds that he has disappeared. Pinter is also a bookmaker and has been kidnapped by one of his debtors, Travis Travers, and his collector Curtis Mims. The unlikely alliance was formed under the direction of Pinter's lover and protégé Samantha in order to extort Pinter's fortune from him. Raylan foils the plot and rescues Pinter. Pinter lets Samantha escape without punishment. Raylan visits Ava Crowder's home and finally kisses her. Plot Synopsis Raylan's father, Arlo Givens, gets arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Art Mullen lets Raylan know, but Raylan avoids contacting him. Raylan is assigned manipulative confidential informant Arnold Pinter as an initiation to the unit. Pinter is a displaced New Yorker who is working as a criminal fixer out of a local bar. Pinter gives Raylan information about fugitive Isaac "Tiny" Winfield. The marshals arrest Tiny at the apartment of his girlfriend. Raylan continues to spend his downtime flirting with Ava Crowder. Pinter sends his associate Curtis Mims, a landscaper and sometime strong-arm, to collect a gambling debt of $16,500 from Travis Travers. Travis is used to Mims' attempts at intimidation and turns Mims to his side by offering him a bigger payday. They kidnap Pinter and hold him at the home of Travis's parents. Raylan comes to give Pinter his reward but cannot find him at the bar. He checks Pinter's home address and runs into Travers, who is there searching for Pinter's private fund. Raylan recognizes that something is wrong and notes Pinter's name and plate numbers. Raylan pulls Travers' records and finds that he is a known criminal. Travis pretends he is going to maim Pinter's girlfriend, Samantha, if he does not give up the location of his stash. Pinter realizes that Samantha is in on the scam and refuses to talk. Raylan shows up at the house and Mims goes to talk to him, prepared to shoot him. Raylan explains that he is looking to give Pinter a reward and offers to leave and return with it, defusing the situation. Mims tells Travis about the money and Travis convinces him to practice quick draw so that they can get the drop on Raylan and steal the reward. Travis uses the staged gunfight to murder Mims. When Raylan returns Travis attacks him, and Pinter mistakenly shoots Raylan in his vest. Raylan returns fire, killing Travers. He rescues Pinter, who elects to let Samantha go without punishment. Afterwards Raylan goes to see Ava and kisses her, no longer holding back his feelings for her. Recap Chief Deputy Art Mullen approaches Raylan Givens in the marshals' locker room as he prepares for work. Art tells Raylan that his father, Arlo Givens, has been arrested by the Harlan County Sheriff's Department for driving under the influence (DUI). Raylan thanks Art, who hovers in the door before mentioning that the department gave him a number in case Raylan wanted to speak to his father. Raylan says Arlo will be fine and that it is probably not the first time. Art asks if Arlo is a "knucklehead" or a "real bad guy." Raylan laughs and guesses that Art has already looked at his father's rap sheet. Art admits that he has by saying that it is rare to find someone who has worked as both a confidence man and an enforcer. Art observes that it was Arlo's bad temper that seemed to get him arrested most often and jokes that it was lucky that he did not pass that on to Raylan. Raylan is met at his desk by his colleagues Rachel Brooks and Tim Gutterson. There is confusion when Tim mentions phone calls and Tim clarifies that he means calls from an informant named Arnold Pinter. Rachel smiles as she tells Raylan that handling Pinter is always the newest Deputy's assignment and that Tim has had the honor for 9 months. Raylan realizes that it is a hazing. Raylan goes to meet Pinter at a bar and restaurant. He begins to ask the bar man where to go and does not even need to give Pinter's name before he is pointed in the right direction. Pinter has a booth of his own at the back of the restaurant, where he has two laptops set up in front of him. Pinter greets Raylan amicably and offers him a seat before introductions are made. Raylan wonders if they should speak somewhere more private. Pinter realizes that Raylan is his new handler and explains that he always conducts his business with the marshals openly. He says he is too busy raising the money he needs to get out of Kentucky to worry about privacy, denigrating the state as he does so. Pinter calls over the waitress, Samantha, and orders a chocolate egg cream. Raylan declines the offer to join him but orders vanilla ice cream. Pinter says that he taught Jimmy the bartender to make them as the drink reminds him of Brooklyn. Raylan wonders how long Pinter has been in Kentucky and Pinter tells him that it has been 12 years. Pinter explains that he left New York in the 1990s because he was afraid of the violent practices of the new Russian and Jamaican organized crime gangs. Raylan wonders what Pinter does now and learns that he is a fixer — a local handler for national news reporters. Pinter reveals that he used to be a bookmaker but needed to diversify to support himself in the "hinterlands." Raylan wonders why Pinter came to Kentucky and learns that he was attracted by the climate and the lifestyle. Pinter adds that he initially went to Miami but was intimidated by further gang activity in the city. The drink arrives and Pinter gives Raylan a taste. Pinter realizes that he has heard of Raylan as the marshal who shot Tommy Bucks at the Delano hotel in Miami. Raylan impatiently asks Pinter if he has information for him. Pinter drinks deeply from his milkshake and gestures uncertainty. Back at the marshals' office, Raylan asks Rachel to look up Isaac "Tiny" Winfield. She reads through his criminal record which includes 14 arrests since 2001 for crimes such as felony assault, menacing and making terroristic threats. He has been convicted twice, most recently in Tennessee and served three years in Riverbend for attempted murder which he plead down to aggravated assault. He was arrested in Memphis in November 2009 for attacking a nightclub owner but escaped police custody and has been a fugitive fleeing charges including federal parole violation since. Raylan asks where Tiny escaped from and Rachel tells him that Tiny was in the back of a squad car when he pulled apart his shackles, kicked in the barrier and put two officers into intensive care. The Marshals realize that his nickname is potentially ironic. Tiny's file lists his DOB as January 22, 1978, his height as 6'1" and his weight as 270 lbs. Rachel speculates that Pinter informed on Tiny because Tiny has been shaking him down, Tim adds that he might also have been motivated by the $20,000 reward. Rachel asks about the woman's details that Pinter gave to Raylan. Raylan says that her name is Sherese Mason and that she is Tiny's common-law wife. He adds that Pinter said that Tiny moves around but eventually always returns to Sherese. A squad of armed marshals, including Rachel, Tim, Raylan and Art, descend on Sherese's apartment in the Virginia Pines complex. Sherese answers the door just before it is broken down and claims that Tiny is not there. Art threatens her with arrest if they find Tiny on searching the apartment and she admits that he is in the bedroom before adding that they won't need their guns. The marshals find Tiny gagged and handcuffed to the bed. Pinter meets with his associate Curtis Mims. Mims declines an egg cream, citing his concern for his figure. Mims has heard that Tiny is in town and wonders if Pinter called for his assistance. Pinter says that he can handle Tiny and Mims wonders if Pinter is planning to use the marshals against him. Pinter tells Mims about Raylan's reputation as the marshal who outdrew Tommy Bucks. Mims says that he did not see the story; he is too busy making money to watch the news. Pinter wonders if Mims is still trying to get start-up funds for a carpet-cleaning business. Mims corrects him — he is interested in landscaping — and asks if he has considered his offer to become an investor. Pinter declines but says that he has a money-making opportunity. He tells Mims that he wants him to collect $16,500 from a gambler named Travis Travers who has not honored his markers. Travers has been betting under different names, early in the morning when he knows Pinter has runners covering his phones. He made three $5,000 dollar bets on the Grizzlies, losing $15,000. Mims is disbelieving about Travers' name but asks where he can find him. Pinter says that Travers lives in a Tudor house in Ashland Park that was left to him by his parents. Mims believes it should be easy for Travers to raise the money but says that he is not offering a discount. Pinter says that he is expecting the $15,000, with the usual arrangement that Mims gets to keep the interest. Mims leaves, checking out Samantha as she brings Pinter another drink. She tells Pinter that Mims creeps her out and Pinter points out that it is Mims' job to intimidate. She wonders if he is sending Mims after Travers and he tacitly confirms by asking her if she thinks he is up to it. Raylan and Ava play pool in a bar. She asks him about Miami and he tells her that it is a sunny place for shady people. She admits that she hopes to go there some day, adding that she has a list of places. Raylan wonders where else is on her list and she says Costa Rica, wondering if he has been. He says no but offers that he once went to Nicaragua. She asks if it was wonderful and he says it was not. She asks how he first met Winona. He tells her that he was working prison transport in Salt Lake City when she sat next to him in a bar and he realized that she was also from Kentucky. Ava wonders if he has a weakness for Kentucky girls and he says that Winona was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, adding up to that point when he realizes he has hurt Ava's feelings. Ava asks if Raylan came back to Kentucky for Winona and he says that he was sent against his will. He recalls that he and Winona promised each other that they would never come back. He says that he hopes to leave when he can. Ava sympathizes, saying that she also wants to go as there is nothing here for her. Raylan begins an admonition and she interrupts, saying that she knows they cannot be together. Travers smokes a joint next to a filthy pool while reading the paper. Mims approaches him and offers that the garden could be improved easily. Travers wonders if Mims often critiques gardens and Mims elucidates that he is there to collect on behalf of Arnold Pinter. Travers does not take Mims seriously, laughing and claiming that he owes $5,000. Mims corrects him; claiming $18,000. Travers says that it is $16,500 and Mims says the extra $1,500 is for his expenses. Travers says that he doesn't even have what he owes and Mims wonders how he affords the marijuana. Travers says that he grows it himself and says that he has spent all of his inheritance and borrowed against the house. Mims says that he learned grounds beautification in Angola prison, producing a sharp set of secateurs, and enjoyed pruning. He threatens to use them on Travers if he does not pay. Travers remains dismissive until Mims grabs his head and puts the secateurs to his ear. Travers offers Mims a way to earn 10 times as much and Mims says that he is listening. Art and Raylan discuss Pinter as Art puts the $20,000 reward into an envelope. They are unsure if Pinter knew about the reward money because he did not mention it to Raylan. Art believes that Pinter would have done his research and Raylan agrees. Art warns Raylan to be careful with Pinter, despite Rachel and Tim treating him as a joke. Raylan takes the money to the bar but finds Pinter's table empty. He asks Jimmy the bartender if he has seen Pinter and Jimmy reports that Pinter has not been in all day. Samantha approaches and says that Pinter is probably sick. Raylan asks Samantha to pass on a message to call him when Pinter returns. Raylan returns to the office and signs the money back over to Art. He asks if Art finds it unusual that Pinter was not there, confessing that he has a hunch that something is wrong. Art instructs him not to spend too much time on it. Raylan approaches one of the office's administrators, Laurie Slade, and asks her to get Arnold Pinter's address. Raylan goes to Pinter's home and bumps into Travers as he is leaving. Travers claims that Pinter is on vacation in Florida and that he is watching the house. He claims that he does not know when Pinter will return. Raylan catches Travers' lie that Pinter has been gone for a week already and checks Travers' ID to confirm his name before letting him leave. He notes Travers' number plate (TNT6969) as he pulls out. Travers returns to his house where Mims is waiting for him. Mims is watching Pinter on a laptop screen using a camera. Pinter is hooded and tied to a chair. Travers tells Mims that they have a problem. At the marshals' office, Raylan has Laurie check Travers' criminal record. She tells him that Travers grew up in Ashland Park and has been arrested for pandering, contributing to delinquency and gambling and convicted for statutory rape. She reports that his parents' address has had a lean placed on it by the Internal Revenue Service. Raylan asks her if Travers sounds like the kind of person you would allow to watch your house and she awkwardly tells him that she lives alone in an apartment. Art approaches and asks why Raylan is so keen to give away the reward money. Raylan admits that he has yet to find anything, grabs his hat and heads out again. Mims and Travers discuss Raylan's interest. Travers admits that he did not manage to search Pinter's house. Mims suspects that Travers is lying to him. Travers gives more detail and Mims realizes that it was Raylan who stopped Travers. Travers wonders why the marshals are interested in Pinter and Mims reveals that Pinter is their informant. Travers wonders why Mims did not say anything before they kidnapped Pinter, and Mims says that he thought everyone knew. Travers wonders what they should do given that Raylan has his name. Mims asks if Travers remembers how the Raylan shooting Bucks went down from the news. Travers says he does not know and asks Mims to focus. They go to the room where Pinter is being held and Mims wonders why he has not given up his money yet. Travers says that it is pruning time and Mims admits that he has never actually followed through on that threat. Travers wonders what Mims' role is supposed to be if he is not willing to intimidate. Mims says his role is not killing Travers and squares off to him. Travers says that they need to accelerate the situation. Travers, now wearing a balaclava, removes the hood so that Pinter can see. Mims, similarly masked, brings in Samantha and holds his secateurs to her hands. Samantha is crying and pleads with Pinter to give up his money. Pinter tells Mims to go ahead, seeing through the disguises and realizing that Samantha is involved in the kidnapping plot. Samantha says that she thought Pinter cared about her and he tells her that she was right. She realizes that he knows she is involved in the scheme and asks when he knew. He says that she was the only one that he told about his escape fund and that Travers lacks the ambition to come up with the plot. The kidnappers leave the room to weigh their options. Travers believes they will have to use violence against Pinter, and Samantha complains that Travers said that Pinter would not be harmed. She spots Raylan outside the window. Mims says he will deal with Raylan, racking the slide on his handgun and tucking it into his waistband. Raylan releases the catch on his holster as Mims comes outside. He shows Mims his badge and says that he is looking for Travers. Mims says that he recognizes Raylan for Travers description and claims to be his gardener. Raylan looks around at the state of the grounds and Mims says that he is just getting started. Raylan notices Mims' alligator skin shoes and says that he must have had to cut a lot of lawns to pay for them. Mims asks if Raylan likes Westerns and Raylan says that he used to. Mims talks about shootout scenes in the movies, putting his hand on his hip. Mims adds that where he grew up they used to come out with their guns drawn. Raylan says that is smart because there is a lot that can go wrong with a draw, using it as a pretense to draw his weapon and intimidating Mims into backing down. Raylan tells Mims that the Marshals owe Pinter $10,000 and that he had hoped to give it to Travers. Mims offers to pass it on for Raylan and Raylan says that he will go back to the office to get it. Mims returns to the others and says that Raylan wants to give Pinter $5,000 as a reward. They plan to rob and kill him when he returns. Raylan asks Art for the reward money and says that he knows where Pinter is but that he needs to do more checking. Art instructs Raylan to get Pinter to sign a receipt. Raylan describes Mims to Tim, asking if he knows him. Tim identifies Mims for Raylan and tells him that he runs Pinter's collections. Tim warns Raylan that Mims is a leg breaker and says that he steered clear of him. Tim wonders why Raylan is so keen to get the reward money to Pinter and Raylan says that something does not feel right, grabbing his kevlar vest, and adding that someone isn't telling him something which means that someone thinks they are getting one over on him. Mims asks Travers to help him practice his draw. Mims chooses a revolver from the four handguns they have available. Travers suggests unloading the guns but Mims insists that the weight needs to be right. Travers chooses an automatic and Mims walks over to the pool. Mims wins the first practice draw but as soon as he lowers his weapon Travers shoots him twice. Mims falls back into the pool. Travers goes inside and Samantha asks him what happened to his stress control techniques. Travers says that the situation has changed and insists that they torture Pinter. Raylan arrives and Travers goes to answer the door. Samantha runs to the bedroom where Pinter is being held and unties him, apologizing for betraying him. Pinter tells her that it was a good play and that he is proud of her. She begins to free his legs and he says there is not time and sends her to get a gun. Travers lets Raylan in and observes that the bag he is carrying seems to heavy for $5,000. Raylan says that the reward is $20,000 and wonders if Mims told Travers it was only $5,000. Travers suggest they ask Mims, saying that he is out back. Raylan agrees and Travers picks up his gun from an end table and shoots at Raylan. Raylan ducks through a doorway and the shot misses. Samantha fishes the revolver out of the pool and runs back inside. Raylan calls for backup as Travers hides in a back room. Samantha gives the gun to Pinter, who has freed himself from the chair. Raylan goes to open the door into the hallway as Pinter and Samantha emerge from the bedroom. Pinter shoots Raylan in the chest, believing it to be Travers. Raylan collapses onto his back as Pinter swears. Travers opens the door opposite, Raylan rolls over and fires three times through the door, killing Travers. Samantha rushes to his aid and he pulls apart his shirt to show that the vest stopped the bullet. A paramedic checks Raylan's breath sounds and suggests that his lungs are bruised but not punctured and recommends an x-ray to confirms. Art approaches and jokes that he admires the paramedic's confidence given that Raylan is coughing up blood. Raylan removes the envelope from his jacket and hands it to Art. Art says that Raylan has a weeks paid leave coming up because of the investigation into the shooting of Boyd Crowder and jests that it will be a restful time. Raylan asks why Samantha is not in handcuffs and Art explains that Pinter is claiming that she was a hostage too. Raylan goes to talk to Pinter. Pinter explains that Samantha was just doing what he taught her to do. Raylan wonders why Pinter did not give up his money to save his life and Pinter says that he would not give up his dream to buy his life because his life would not be worth living. He tells Raylan that he plans to use the money to go to Tahiti. Raylan wonders if Tahiti is really that nice and Pinter admits that he has never been. Raylan goes to Ava's house in Harlan. He tells her that he swore not to return and that he planned to leave once he was forced too. He asks her what would happen if he found something that made him want to stay. She says that it is a good thing he has not found anything. He says it is a good thing and kisses her. The door closes behind him. Appearances First Appearances #Arnold Pinter - Informant for the U.S. Marshals who is held hostage by Travis Travers and Curtis Mims #Samantha - Pinter's protégé who conspires with Curtis and Travis, but soon has a change of heart #Travis Travers - An ex-convict who owes a debt to Pinter, who conspires with Samantha and Curtis #Curtis Mims - Debt collector for Pinter who soon turns on him and holds him hostage Deaths #Curtis Mims - Shot by Travis #Travis Travers - Shot by Raylan Givens Credits Cast Starring cast *Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens *Nick Searcy as Art Mullen *Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder *Jacob Pitts as Tim Gutterson *Erica Tazel as Rachel Brooks *Natalie Zea as Winona Hawkins (credit only) Guest starring *David Eigenberg as Arnold Pinter *Greg Cromer as Travis Travers *Page Kennedy as Curtis Mims *Erin Cardillo as Samantha Co-starring *Jessica Camacho as Sherese Mason *Kiersten Lyons as Laurie Slade *Todd Cattell as EMT *Sam Ayers as Jimmy the Bartender Memorable quotes *"Here in the hinterlands you gotta diversify" (Arnold Pinter) *"Miami is a sunny place for shady people" (Raylan Givens) Gallery S2.jpg External links *List of Justified episodes on Wikipedia - Season 1 section *Justified Episode Guide on FX, Season 1 *"Fixer" at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) Category:Season 1 episodes